TJ Eckard and the Death of a Hero
by Himaru Kishimoto
Summary: A son of a great god excepts a task that may end his life. Meeting new friends and making horrible enemies.
1. Chapter 1

T.J. Eckard and the Death of a Hero

By-Himaru Kishimoto

Chapter 1: I Fight With the Horse through the Sands of Time

Author Note: Thank you for reading my newest fanfic. First off I got the chapter name from the lyric in the song "Mendocino County Line" that goes like this "You danced with the horses trough the sands of time". So that's basically were I got the idea for this chapter. I do not own the Percy Jackson and The Olympians franchise. The character here is about twelve, the age of Percy in the first book. Coincidentally it goes on around the same time.

It could be considered weird that I can be struck by lightning and just get a great high, and it could also be considered weird that birds love me, and it could be even be considered weird that I'm deathly scared of graveyards and the last time I was at one I felt a boney hand tug at my ankle. Although even weirder is that my friend David is always around me, and is always uptight. He's an orphan and, he unofficially lives with me in my apartment in New York City. My mom died years ago. All I have left of her is a necklace, a shield, but not a normal one. My necklace is in the shape of a shield like the shield the 1958-1961 United Arab Republic coat of arms except the color was red in the top right and bottom left corners and blue in the other parts. I'm sorry I have no better explanation for it. Oh yeah my name is T.J. Eckard

I live with my Uncle Vinny in our apartment above the "Funny as Hell" comedy club in New York City which he runs. I always hated being stuck in those tiny rooms, in our apartment, so I set up my own room on the roof of the building. All I have really is a hammock and a radio which is in my tent I use for storage so it doesn't get wet in the rain. David stays with me this is one of the times when he's actually calm. Every other time he's drinking Monster energy drinks to stay awake, and warning me against doing some of my dangerous habits like taking back alleys to get to school faster. David is tall, African-American, and has a small afro. One time he fell down a flight of steps, taking me with him, and when we crashed at the bottom, I felt a sharp pain in my back were his head should be. I always wondered from that point on what he hid under that afro.

Today was the last day of school. We'd been learning about the Greek gods. I know it sounds weird, but it was almost as if I could read the writing. It was last period, Mr. Hanson fell asleep so, not unlike other kids I was getting in some well earned graffiti. It would take a month easy to clean this up. No one wanted to get into to much trouble so long ago me and my friends came up with a formula that was basically liquid silly string that came off easily.

Later that day we were walking home, Me, David, Matt Paulson, and Sam Smith. We were having a good time until, we went our separate ways, and it was just me and David.

"So were are you going next year?"

"Oddly enough, I haven't been kicked out yet."

"Well, you are a good kid; it's just the combination of the ADHD, Dyslexia, and Claustrophobia."

"Right, at one point I just stopped caring somewhere along the way, the same with Sam, but Matt is such a nerd."

"True."

Just then what might have been a horse came at me. It picked me up with its teeth, by my collar. And soon David was out of sight. The last thing I heard him say didn't even make sense.

"Oh no, it's starting, I must warn the others."

And then he started blowing on some sort of pipes.

The next thing I new, I was in the middle of a dessert, I had no idea how I could get this far away from New York in mere seconds, then something formed in the sand, a human form. When it was fully formed it started to speak.

"I am a sand-demon a small lump of the power of Kronos has been given to me, more than enough to beat you. Sands of time awaken!"

Immediately a bunch of sand formed around me and the horse, creating an hour glass. I managed to dodge the horse which now seemed to be just bones, until the sand was to my waist. I had half an hour left.

It went by so fast. I couldn't dodge anymore. The horse just kept kicking me in the face, which was the only part of me visible. Then I saw another horse I thought "Come on, reinforcements. He has me dead." Then I saw David getting off the horse and I focused hard to see through my bloodshot black-eyes. It wasn't a horse, it was a…A…A CENTAUR! AND DAVID HAD GOAT LEGS!

I couldn't hear anything but they were fighting. Columns of sand and trees erupted. It was a good fight. Well, until, until David was struck by a knife in the chest. The Centaur was hurt too. I was in up to my upper lip in sand, then a beautiful girl who was my age came, lead by a hawk. She shot an arrow and made a hole in the glass, and with David's dying breath he said "T…T.J. concentrate on the wind!" I thought he meant because, I had been in there so long I needed a good breath but, a strong wind came it seemed almost solidified it impaled and destroyed the sand demon, broke the hour glass, and reduced the horse to a pile of bone.

The next thing I new I was on the centaur, who was moving with incredible speed clutching a sapling cherry blossom tree. I passed out again and then woke up in a cabin, which was extremely crowded. The beautiful stranger sat by my side, feeding me some kind of chocolate drink. I stood and the stranger regarded me coldly.

"You okay, windbag?"

"Yeah, who are you?"

"Not important."

I looked out the window, the stranger warned that I needed to rest, but I had to. I saw a summer camp, and by the water were Matt and Sam. And I saw bathroom stalls flooding, and a bunch of big muscular girls come out. Later I talked to The Centaur, named Chiron with the beautiful stranger.

"You did a good deed for this camp Em, how can we repay you?

"First off, don't call me by my mortal name. To boys, it's Emelius."

Now that I could see her out of my eyes that healed strangely quick, she was even more beautiful. She had shoulder length auburn hair; she was about three inches shorter than me, with brown eyes, that seemed to glow like fire.

"Well, Emelius, you're welcome to stay in the Artemis Cabin."

"No, I must make it back to lady Artemis."

I watched as she disappeared on a silver wolf, and wondered if I'd see her again. Later that night I buried David the cherry blossom tree deep in the woods. Sam, Matt, and me buried him, while Chiron said a few words. We also met a friend of his named Grover, who was very sad about David. That's how I met Percy Jackson, one of the best swordsmen at camp and the person who flooded the stalls.

I grew accustomed to life in Hermes cabin. The actual children of Hermes rubbed off on me and helped me with my thieving skills. Before no time I was the one you went to if you needed something: Coke, Gum, and Beer for the older kids. One day I went back home to get my stuff, explain things to my uncle and make sure I had something to wear beside, Cargo Shorts and an orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. By the time I got back I was nice and comfortable in my faded jeans and black Fender Guitar shirt, with of course my guitar. When I got back, Chiron was looking for me.

"A package for you."

"Who's it from?"

"It's somewhat anonymous. It says to T.J. from your dad. It's from Mount Olympus. At least we know you know which side you belong on."

Chiron left and I opened the box. Inside was a three foot long beginner's sword, my necklace and what appeared to be a dream-catcher necklace. There was also a note.

Dear Thomeus John (T.J.)

The enclosed dream-catcher is a magic item that can create artificial dimensions. I'm sure that you will find a way to use it. You'll find out what your necklace does soon, and if I have to teach you what a sword does, I'll zap you dead right now. Keep this a secret for now okay, son.

And at the bottom of the letter was a picture of an eagle, the sacred animal of Zeus.


	2. Chapter 2

T.J. Eckard and the Death of a Hero

By-Himaru Kishimoto

Chapter 2: I Capture Something But, Not the Flag

Author Note: Thank you for actually reading through to the second chapter. This is exciting. I love this series. I do not own the "Percy Jackson and the Olympians" franchise or its spin-off series "The Heroes of Olympus".

Over the course of the next two weeks I trained like a mad-man. Although at the end of that training I could only use enough electricity to paralyze an opponent for five seconds, but it could still paralyze long enough for me to ram my somewhat weak blade into an opponent's heart.

That night at the dining pavilion, everyone was talking about me and my friends, Sam, and Matt. Matt said he had known forever he was a son of Hermes, so he wasn't surprised when he was recognized. Although he decided not to join Hermes cabin. (He had found an underwater cave while swimming with a small air bubble about feet five feet in. There was even a small hole in the roof were sand and air from the beach came in.) Sam was still yet to be recognized and he wasn't doing well with swords. Any way that night Chiron had a big announcement…

"Campers, it is not often that we can accept three new half-bloods to camp. Now that they've trained a bit, let us celebrate with a game of capture the flag!"

Everyone cheered, well except for Sam.

"Dude, what's wrong? This is capture the flag. The game everyone's been telling us about. At the last one Percy found out he was a son of Poseidon "

"I know I should be excited, but I haven't done well with swords, and I don't know who I'm a son of. At least you and Matt know."

Matt had known for years about his dad being Hermes, he just hadn't believed his mom until now.

"Shut up, you know my dad is a secret."

"OK"

"And Sam" Chiron said "We have a mysterious gift from your father."

Chiron threw him a package. Inside was a mechanical pencil, and by mechanical I mean mechanical. I could see gears and stuff through the plastic. He tried clicking it, but nothing happened, well except for lead coming out. Sam was disappointed, and then he saw a note that read…

Sam,

Hammer, Mace, Spear. Find the rest on your own. Don't forget to write.

-H

"Hammer?" Sam said "Instantly the pencil grew to a huge battle hammer three feet long. Sam got so excited, and then saw the signature, H.

"AW MAN! My dad is Hermes!"

"You don't know that. Why would Hermes use a Hammer?"

"Whatever. At least I got this awesome new weapon! Let's get stated Chiron! Mace!

Instantly the hammer changed into the same metal rod but, with a ball with a bunch of spikes on it.

"Alright then" Chiron said "Armor up, and get your favorite magical items, and choose your teams. Go!"

Today the Hermes cabin was with the Ares, Hephaestus, and Demeter cabins, and Percy. And as leader the Aphrodite girls tricked me into letting them join. We had been provided with special light-weight armor, an anonymous gift. Although I ordered the Aphrodite girls to wear only what they'd wear out in public and guard the clearing wear we hid the flag. That took care of all the guys coming for the flag. Then I had the Demeter kids grow vines all around the flag. The vines were ordered by Katie Gardner, the head counselor for Demeter cabin. Then I made sure everyone else was ready."

"Beckendorf is everyone's armor ready?"

"Yes sir."

"Jackson how's that moat coming?"

"I told you I can only use water in emergencies. Like if I'm about to be killed."

"Well maybe a sword at your throat will smooth the process."

Instantly water came flooding in and a bubble of it surrounded my head, drowning me for about half a minute.

"I knew exactly that would happen but, it was worth it."

"Sam, you ready?"

"Yes sir!"

"Ok, Hephaestus cabin charge down the middle with Ares cabin. Beckendorf and Clarisse lead. Demeter cabin split up and go on either side tangling there feet with vines. Hermes cabin guard the flag as first defense. Percy you guard the moat. Aphrodite cabin is second. And Katie is last. My special commandos are with me. Disperse!"

"Ok Sam, Matt we're doing an aerial assault."

"With what, a plane?"

"No Matt that would be ridiculous. We're taking clouds."

The fist bunch I sent was a ammo-waster, as I call it. I sent three out and instantly they were bombarded by Apollo's arrows. Then we left, but I got shot down, but not by an arrow…

(Until further notice Sam is the narrator.)

T.J. had been shot down, but as he fell he said to keep going. I had little choice but, I was so amped up that I wanted to win. The clouds started to disintegrate. Matt saved my life by reluctantly using his war helmet with wings he got from his dad.

When we hit ground we saw the flag but it was guarded by Apollo archers. We couldn't get in. Then a fissure opened up and swallowed both of us. We woke to find a dark room, dimly lit by a clock that said 7:12.

"Matt the game started at seven didn't it?"

"Yeah, but I feel rested, we must have been down here for hours."

"Oh gentlemen, time doesn't apply down here."

"Who are you?"

A teen age girl with long black hair, a tattoo on her arm, and a wicked grin walked out wearing a red dress.

"I am Eris, goddess of chaos, rebel daughter of Zeus and Hera. And may I add my mother's least favorite child."

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh I have been watching you guys, you're summer is going to be very chaotic. I like you're leader. He has a rebel's spirit. I'd break his heart if he weren't my half brother."

"Well what're you doing here already!"

"Oh just wanted to watch the fight. This will be a particularly chaotic event. Watch out."

"What is this place?" Matt said.

"You're an inquisitive one, Nerd boy. This is the den of one of Kronos's minions. I wouldn't face him, well them if I weren't immortal."

"And they aren't?"

"Oh no, they're reject sons of Hades and Persephone. They were weak by there fathers standards, so he sapped they're immortality and through them to Tartarus. They don't even have names. We call them Nameus, and Lesseus. They hate it, I love it. Well see ya."

"Wait"

But before I spoke, she vanished into a puff of black smoke.

"Well there's the door." I said.

"Yeah and they're probably beyond there."

"Is there any other visible way out?"

"Not that I can see. Let's go."

We walked up some stairs for a while until we came to a set of two huge doors.

"We can't open these, Sam."

"Or maybe we don't have to."

Well H did say to find the rest of the pencils functions myself. I turned it into the mace and went to hit it and at the last second I yelled.

"Wrecking Ball!"

Big surprise, after it opened the door it sent me rocketing towards what was behind it. Matt came flying in. The room we were in now was huge. Below us was a sea of lava, and we were standing on a black marble arena suspended by chains. And standing in front of us were two huge guys. They were burned black as if they had been thrown into the lava long ago and survived. They each had a horn on their forehead. One's horn was broken in half but, still sharp looking. They each were wearing nothing but a loincloth and shackles on there wrist.

"Who are you guys? (Please say "We're Bill and Dave. We're gonna help you with those nameless guys!)"

"Me Nameus. He Lesseus."

"AAHHHWWWWOOOOOOOO, MEAT MEAT MEAT!"

"We helping master Kronos, you know any demigods?"

"Eh…Um…No, we're very lost. Sorry for bothering you."

"Is okay. Hey brother, how long it be since we eat?"

"Eh? When father feasted us to make us sleepy so he could throw us here."

"Oh ya! Lava sure woke us up!"

"Ya, hey you two smell like peggysus."

"We rode some pegasus today."

"Do you taste like peggysus?

"Um…No"

"Good, me no like those!"

"AAHHHWWWWOOOOOOOO, MEAT MEAT MEAT!"

We evaded them for a long time. Then we decided to go back toward the door. Well we were on the edge of the marble floor which was now covered in holes from missed punches. We knew we were going to die because, well they were charging at us, and we couldn't move. Then when they were ten feet away they stopped they were struggling against there stygian iron shackles.

"Matt, we've got some time."

"To pray?"

"No, look there stuck, so here's the plan…"

Two minutes later there shackles broke free from the dark stone wall. We ran in front of them Matt broke left and I broke right. We both turned and ran at each other. Matt jumped first. He started flying and that's when I grabbed his ankle. They hadn't noticed yet. I threw down my pencil and yelled…

"WRECKING BALL!"

"It worked? Sam, it worked!"

"Duh, there complete idiots."

"Hey, even if there gods we can get spoils of victory from them."

"Yeah, and I see some teeth that would be great for arrow heads."

We collected a lot of stuff. It was easy since they turned to dust because, of the Hades taking their immortality. I did collect all there teeth that fell out, along with both there horns, and knives they'd forgotten they had. Although to us they were like big swords. We took our winnings and went up a small hole in the roof. It was 7:13…

T.J.'s story

(T.J. is the narrator again)

After my fall I had woken up in a ditch of what I hoped was mud, and not a monster's lunch. I got up, and jumped in the nearest river. Unfortunately I saw the monster that made the…eh…mud. It came right at me. I hopped a cloud and flew away. It chased me, and I recognized it the Nemian Lion. I knew the legend, It is only unprotected were there wasn't fur. The problem was someone anticipated this and gave it a chew toy, a nice big tree. It chased a long time I was using to much energy with the cloud so I decided to face him. I jumped down and noticed over a small hill in the east were two cloaked men watching. When I saw them they bolted, but I couldn't think about that now. I ran toward the lion. It clawed at me while I tried to slice it. I missed and sliced the end off the tree on the lion's left side. It fell to the ground with a thud. I noticed while dodging a paw that his mouth was partially exposed. I was still stunned that I had cut that huge tree with a beginner's blade. Then He lunged at me. I saw my chance. I dodged right. Ran up and slashed at the lion's mouth beginning at the front of the jaw toward the back. And when it was gone my sword snapped, then I noticed something. When I slashed at its gums, some of his teeth fell out.

"Wow these things are metal! If I take these to the Hephaestus kids…"

"…*Clap Clap* Well done."

"Who are you?"

"Your worst nightmare…"

He opened up the cloak he'd been wearing. I saw him. He was wearing a brown T-Shirt, white cargo shorts, and what was really interesting was a combination celestial bronze and stygian iron glove. He came at me and I saw his face, but I was imagining things because I saw a third eye. I tried to dodge, but failed and the glove closed around my throat. Then, a little gift from my dad came down from the sky and zapped him."

"Before I impale you with my half of a sword I'd like to know who you are?"

"Jack, son of Janus, and master of darkness!"

His hand started glowing black, and then he did too. He was teleporting away. Before he could go I chopped off his hand. I didn't hear a scream or anything, as if the hand was not part of him. He got away.

"Crap, I guess I'll take this to Chiron. I can't believe he got away."

I started walking. I walked for an hour. Then I saw the other cloaked figure. He raised his hand and I attacked him.

(Sam's the narrator)

As we were walking back to camp we saw a cloaked figure. He raised his hand and I attacked. I felt a sword scratch my shoulder.

(T.J.'s the narrator)

When I hit him I felt a hammer hit me in the gut. Then the campers came up. They were looking for me Matt and Sam. Then I saw Sam, he had been fighting me this whole time. Then I saw above his head an image of a quail a sacred animal of Hephaestus with an arrow a symbol of Apollo through it. Then I saw above my head was a lightning bolt image. Above matt's head was a caduceus. Our dads had claimed us.

That night someone broke into my new cabin and when I woke up, the hand was gone. I had looked at it. Inside had been a bony pale white hand. Today Sam and I went to Chiron.

"Sir, why did the quail above my head have an arrow in it?"

"Yeah, is he a Hephaestus or not?"

"Hmm…Sam…did you ever know you're parents."

"No I live with Matt's family."

"I believe I remember them, Gail and Casey smith. Your father was in Hephaestus and your mother was in Apollo. They were very much in love. Yes, you have your mother's eyes and your father's hair."

"Were will I go then?"

"Were you wish. I suggest Hephaestus cabin, since you have that weapon from him."

"Yeah, I'll go there for now. Thank you Chiron."

As he walked away I think I saw him smile.


	3. Chapter 3

T.J. Eckard and the Death of a Hero

By-Himaru Kishimoto

Chapter 3: We kill the immortal dead dude

Author note: Thanks for reading I have to give my friends some thanks. Emilee, Sammy, and Matt who are the people my characters are based on, and of course I'm the main character. I think an author can never make a good story unless he sees a little bit of himself in his main character. I don't own the Percy Jackson franchise.

Earlier today I saw Percy Jackson leaving camp with Annabeth and Grover on a quest. I thought they'd surely be back soon so I just went along my way. I stopped at Hephaestus cabin to see Beckendorf about using the Nemian Lion's metal teeth to make a sword…

"I've examined the teeth for a while and yes they are made of some kind of metal. I can't make a sword though."

"Why, you're the best blacksmith in Hephaestus cabin?"

"I can't do it because; this is the hardest metal I've ever seen. Hephaestus cabin is just not equipped for this kind of metal. No forge could make this sword. In fact I'd say the only person who could make you a sword of this metal would be Hephaestus himself, and he might not willingly give it to a mortal. He probably would not trust you. I can use some very high quality celestial bronze?"

"How much will it be?"

"Fifty drachmas."

"Are you insane?"

"Wait, let me see those two pieces of sword you have there."

"Okay"

"Whoa, this stuff is rare. Who gave you this sword?"

"Um…my dad did."

"Zeus! This is Olympian silver! This stuff is very rare. That's why the sword isn't very thick, but for a person who uses a sword of this caliber I could combine it with the highest grade of celestial bronze to make a sword worth being Ares's symbol of power. Although the forges still aren't good enough."

Then I'd remembered Zeus's gift, what looked like a dream-catcher was a powerful item that could be used to make up to three alternate dimensions. I already used two of them, one for storage, and one for special training.

"What if I gave you a forge that had the equipment strong enough to make the sword?"

"Could you?"

"Yeah"

I took off the dream-catcher and said, "Create a forge with the strongest tools ever." Instantly we were teleported to a hot, humid room, with fire bursting out everywhere, and anvils. Hammers lined the wall. Magic hammers that glowed red with heat.

"How long will it take?"

"Two days, also, I noticed Zeus made the sword magic so it could absorb lightning, and use it to increase cutting potential. I imagine you want to keep that feature. Although it does weaken the metal, that's why the Olympian Silver sword broke. It would normally be very strong, but since there isn't much the sword was weak but, it shouldn't be a problem now."

I exited the dream-catcher and hung it on the wall, with a nail I concentrated some electrical power into so if anyone touched it a couple volts would keep them away. I checked on Beckendorf between training sessions. He was doing fine on the first day. I went to check on him on the second day, and he was about done. Then in the afternoon I checked, and the dream catcher was gone. Sam was there though.

"Sam did you see someone take something off the wall."

"Yeah, but I was trying to take a nap, so I couldn't really stop him because, I thought he was a Hephaestus camper. He went toward the beach. Can I come?"

"Sure, I think I might need some help, get Matt first, and meet me there."

I got to the beach and I saw the guy with the metal glove holding Beckendorf by the throat, looking like he was sucking out his very essence. Then he dropped Beckendorf who seemed older, and picked up my sword. I could see his entire face now. He did have a third eye on his forehead with a mouth full of jagged teeth underneath. Then as he held my sword at my throat a bolt of bright, destructive lightning come down upon the son of Janus. His forehead smiled and he raised the sword which absorbed the blast. The lightning around the sword was frantic, like it wanted to escape.

"How do you not get electrocuted?"

"Remember the pale bony hand inside the glove? That affords me certain…geokinetic powers. The earth can't be hurt by lightning."

Suddenly a bunch of rocks came from the woods and buried me. I would have died if I hadn't been wearing my armor from the capture the flag game. Then Sam and Matt came in their armor. Sam threw his pencil and said "wrecking ball". It changed but, it just hit a giant stone wall, which the son of Janus had made at last minute. Matt used his new watch which was a gift from his mother that increased his hydro kinetic powers to try drowning him. You see Matt's mom is a mermaid, sort of; she is part Naiad and part human. Hermes fell in love with her and along came Matt. His mom doesn't have a tail or anything. Her lower legs and upper arms and shoulders are just kind of scaly, as are Matt's. So, technically Matt and his mom are the most humanoid monsters on earth. Anyway the drowning attempt didn't work. It just strengthened the lightning. We were outmatched. Zeus had used one of his strongest bolts to try to strike him down but, with the bolt in the sword we couldn't beat him. He was to powerful. He struck all of us with the sword. Matt seemed to take it the hardest. Sam had tried blocking in vain, but still only delayed the blow. I wasn't very affected. In fact I felt great, like I could destroy him. I ran up to him and punched him in the chest releasing electricity, and immediately felt horrible again. He didn't seem so good this time. In his weakened state the lightning surrounding the sword retaliated, no longer trapped in the blade. He raised his glove at the last second, sending the lightning skyward, like a kid with a scraped knee running back to daddy.

"*huff* Why are you *puff* doing this?"

"I need only to borrow the power of Zeus, to beat Fysikeus."

"Who is Fysikeus?"

"He is another son of Hades and Persephone. He is a stronger minor god, the god of natural death. He made his father angry when he took the life of a mortal Hades was dating by speeding up the aging process with the help of Kronos. Hades sentenced him to spend three-thousand years as an immobile mummy. Now with Kronos's help he has risen by reversing the aging process. He is now the same age as he was right before Hades sealed him up. He is the one I stole my hand from."

"We'll help you but, how can you kill an immortal?"

"What most people don't realize is that you can, if there weakened. If everything a god stands for is gone, he'll fade away. Like Pan god of the wild. I imagine if he isn't dead already than he will be soon."

"Well people still die everyday so, we can't rely on that."

"Yeah but, no one dies a natural death anymore. People are either killed or pumped full of drugs before they die. He's lost considerable power. My name is Jack since we're gonna be working together."

"Okay, so were is he?"

"He's coming after me."

"He's in camp?"

"Yeah, you better wake your friends up."

We got Sam and Matt up and I got clouds for us but, none would carry the son of Janus but he was pretty fast. We made it to a clearing. We saw something horrible, a crowd of people behind a barbed-wire fence trying to get out, screaming and begging for our help. Above was a floating clock, and next to it was a weak looking man in black robes. Then the clock started turning extremely fast. Before us the people turned to skin and bone then to dust and fossils which were absorbed into the ground, and a dark power went upward toward the man, and he turned into a strong twenty looking man with long black hair and dark skin. Before us stood the god Fysikeus, he seemed powerful, and at the prime of his life except for were his right hand should be was a poor looking replacement. It looked like it was made out of dead tree roots. Then he started glowing, and a shock wave came toward us. We couldn't avoid it. It came at our heads, and suddenly I was in a dark room, very dark. All I could see were what seemed to be the world's largest snakes. Then I could see again, above Jack was absorbing some sort of dark energy.

"What did you do?"

"I absorbed his power."

"Was that was a dream?"

"Of course, he's the god of natural death. He can not kill anyone directly."

"That doesn't make sense."

"Yeah it does. Many people die of heart attacks in their sleep from being scared."

"Well do that energy absorbing thing to them."

"Okay it will be just a minute."

He woke Sam first. He woke up screaming about sky diving. Then matt woke up yelling, "Clowns!" Then Jack did something odd, he took off his hand and set it on the ground than said a silent prayer.

"Guys, the hand will keep him from doing something like that again. You'll have to keep him at bay a while, and remember; while he can not kill you he can injure you."

"What will you do?"

"Save your lives. Now shut up. Fysikeus, as a son of Janus, I offer you a choice. You may go after me and your hand or you may go after those three and leave me and the hand untouched until they are dead."

"You want us killed?"

"No, he can't kill you. I'll make sure of that, I'll absorb his energy before it gets to you, now go."

Fysikeus was stunned, and then he made a choice he sent a volley of dark energy spheres toward us while ignoring that Jack's hand was sucking them up. I grabbed my sword's hilt hard and ran toward him. I was nearly hit by another ball of energy. I got to him and shoved the sword into his arm and paralyzed him. He sent out another volley of energy, and before they disappeared one hit me in the face.

Like many a demigod has found out, dreams or nightmares aren't ever exactly that. I dreamed I was entering a cave and saw a man. I tried walking up to him, but I was frozen. Then I heard another man coming in.

"Oh no, he is coming, I can not stay here any longer."

"Hey, what's up hero? Are you contemplating escape?"

"Yeah, and it's going to be soon."

"Of course it is."

Before my eyes I saw years go by. The muscular man turned to a gray haired bony old man. He spoke to me and then fell asleep.

"Go young one. Stay away from this cave by all means. There is only sorrow in store for you here."

I was woken by Jack absorbing the dark energy. While I slept Sam had hit Fysikeus in the stomach. I knew because there were various marks were his spikes from his mace had hit him. Matt was using his signature bubble of water around the opponents head move on him and Fysikeus was flailing around.

"What were you dreaming about? You were screaming."

"Nothing, is your plan working."

"Yeah, I have just enough dark energy to pull off something big."

"What is it?"

"You'll see, just find a way to restrain him while being thirty feet away.

I told Sam and Matt, and Sam tried a new function for his pen, while Matt and I kept Fysikeus at bay.

"You ready Sammy."

"Yeah, whenever you are."

"Do it…Now!"

"Chain!"

"Matt, use attach your knife to the end of the chain, I'll hold him off."

Matt put his new knife at the end of the chain and Sam used some sort of bright light to melt the two together. Sam through his new knife-chain and it pierced Fysikeus's chest. We held on to him while Jack put his hand on. It started glowing and shot a thin beam of darkness at Fysikeus's forehead. Then Jack threw the hand at the now stunned god holding onto it by a dark thread. An explosion burst in the air and when it stopped the god was seemingly unharmed.

"What did you do?"

"I sent him into eternal nightmares."

"You did?"

"Yeah, and I can take away all his power now and become the worlds strongest demigod."

"Wait, if you can take his power, could you use it to give those people there souls back."

"Fine, give me the clock he used to turn them to dust."

He took all of the god's power and the clock, and concentrated hard on the clock. We ran to avoid any time related effects. The clock ticked backwards and souls flew from it into the ground. People emerged, and I commanded my clouds to fly all of them to New York. We thanked our new friend who later decided to stay with us in Hermes cabin. He renounced his evil ways and told us about who was with him when he attacked me. It turns out it was a god on the side of Kronos. The god of confusion and uproar, Cydoimus. That's why Sam and I started fighting, we were confused. Then Chiron found me.

"I have a letter from Zeus."

"What does it say?"

"He want's you to go to the attic in the big house. He wants you to meet the oracle."

"What?"

"The oracle of Delphi lives in the attic. You can go there for a prophecy. Go ahead."

I went up to the attic. I nearly jumped out of my skin. There was a mummy in hippy clothes, a dragon head and a bunch of other stuff. Then the mummy spoke.

"You shall go with your 3 friends

To a great fall one may end

The child of the two-faced one must die

You'll save you're life with one lie

Another friend will be brought to the brink of death

And a new friend will give him his first breath."

I left the attic and went to see Sam, Matt, and Jack at the dining pavilion. They were hanging out with the other campers waiting for dinner.

"Guys, we have a quest…"

"This is great." Jack said. "Why do you look so sad?"

"I'm sad because, two of us might die."


	4. Chapter 4

T.J. Eckard and the Death of a Hero

By-Himaru Kishimoto

Chapter 4: Live and let die and I meet my future girlfriend

Author note-Today I'm going to give you some info on the characters and who they are. Don't worry; I'll give you plenty of story too. I do not own the Percy Jackson franchise or the song "To Beat the Devil.

T.J. Eckard: Real name is Thomeus John Eckard.

Looks: T.J. has long dark brown hair, extremely dark gray eyes, is tall, and usually wears a leather jacket, red T-shirt, and old torn faded jeans when it's not to hot. If it is he doesn't wear the leather jacket and switches to a black T-shirt.

Bio: Son of Zeus. Named after his grandfather Thomas, and mothers old boyfriend John. He is tall. He keeps his past covered up and doesn't share anything, even with close friends. He has other friends that he does all the stuff with that Sam and Matt are too afraid to do. Plays guitar and is naturally good with wind instruments.

Magical items: Celestial bronze/Olympian silver sword, Coat of arms shield necklace, dimension making dream catcher.

Sam Smith: Real name is Sam Jason Smith.

Looks: Sam has mid-length light brown hair, silver eyes, average height, and usually wears a brown T-shirt and cargo shorts.

Bio: Grandson of Apollo and Hephaestus. He's a good archer and metal worker. He lives with Matt and his stepdad. He feels out of place in both Apollo and Hephaestus cabins. Good with string instruments especially bass.

Magical items: Shape-shifting mechanical pencil, (new for this chapter: A barbaric looking wooden shield that is as heavy as a normal shield and just as strong as a metal shield, and a bow and arrow set with three arrows that return to him) 

Matt Paulson: Real name is Matt Daniel Paulson.

Looks: Matt has really curly looking blonde hair, blue eyes, is short, and usually wears jeans and long sleeved shirts to hide his scales.

Bio: He lives with his step dad all year and his mom comes to live with them half of the year, because the other half is spent in the ocean because she is half human and half naiad. Sam as an orphan lives with them.

Magical items: Water control watch, (new for this chapter: Shark tooth knife that gives owner command over aquatic animals.)

Em: Real name is Emelius

Looks: She has shoulder length auburn hair, brown eyes, is average height, seen wearing a brown leather vest and jeans.

Bio: Nothing is known abut her yet.

Magical items: also unknown

Jack: Real name is unknown

Looks: Jack is a triclops, which means he has three eyes. He has three yellowish-green eyes because he is a son of Janus who has two faces. Also on his forehead just below his eye is a mouth full of shark like teeth. He is tall with a light brown Mohawk that is very long in the back, down to his shoulder blades.

Bio: Not much is known about his past.

Magical items: The mummified hand of minor god Fysikeus wrapped in a half celestial bronze half stygian iron glove.

_To the story_

We had been making plans with Chiron to leave on our quest. Then we realized we don't know were to go. We spent all night one night trying to figure out were to go.

"Well, the grand canyon would be a great fall." Jack said.

"Why are you trying to find the spot were you might die?" I said

"That won't be me."

"Why not."

"Remember, the kid of the two-faced one must die."

"So, what?"

"You've never seen Janus, have you? He's a big guy with two heads merged together like Siamese twins or something. In short he has two faces."

"Oh, so that's why you have the extra eye and mouth. Well it doesn't mean you'll die for sure."

"Um, it kind of does." Said Sam

"Well, at least there's one person with good sense here. It's a prophecy, they're never wrong."

"Whatever, we need to find out were our quest begins.

Then suddenly, through the roof of my cabin were we decided to work came a lightning bolt. Were it landed there was a scorch mark on the map, in the Mojave Dessert. We said a prayer to my dad and then went to sleep so we could leave tomorrow.

It was six o'clock when we left, but somehow the camp was all up to see us off. We'd heard that some Hermes kid came to check on Matt last night and heard the plan. You can imagine how things went from there. People were excited. In a few weeks they'd hear a tale of heroes and monsters and death. They kept cheering, but not for me. I wondered if they even new my name.

"For Zeus! Death to your enemies! Don't fail!"

"Be quiet! I'll win in any fight, but not for Zeus. I'm doing this for me, to make me stronger. I read about my dad. He's a jerk. He ate Athena, and cheated on every woman he was ever with. I'm nothing like my father! Remember my name, T.J. Eckard; I'll save you from whatever is endangering the world so much that I'd have to get that stupid prophecy!

Obviously my dad did not like that speech because when I made four clouds none would take me. So Matt gave me a raft he'd been working on. So now I'd have to go all the way around the east coast and then go through Texas. Texas didn't bother me. They have some of the greatest guitar players in the world. There was one problem. My brother Lee lived in Texas. I used to love him dearly, but he was seventeen when my mom married Jamie Dubius. He was always talking to my brother about college and owning his own company and getting a big house and supporting him and my mom in there old age. My brother hated it. He got decent grades and was getting a song0writing contract for the greatest singers at the time. He taught me my love for music and my first few chords and notes on guitar. What really upsets me is when my brother turned eighteen he just left he didn't consider taking me with him or anything, and I hated our step-dad as much as he did. He never once visited me. He let me be brainwashed by our evil step-dad, who taught me to be racist, sexist, and to pretty much hate everyone who wasn't out of the ordinary. Everyone in his book should be a rich, straight, catholic, short-haired, white person. I went along with it for a while. I did what he wanted. You know, don't rock the boat. The moment he left us for some younger girl I grew my hair long, gave a homeless black man the wallet he'd accidentally left behind and started playing all the songs my brother loved, which he called commy crap.

By the time I was done venting I couldn't see the statue of liberty, which I had passed a while ago. I was officially far away from New York.

An hour later I saw fireworks. Someone had made special fireworks, the kind that makes letters. I saw TN, so I figured that I was passing Tennessee. Then the water started to bubble. The raft shook and out of the water came a giant shark. It ate the raft. Fortunately my supplies were inside my dream catcher's dimension number two, storage. My leg got snagged on one tooth that had been bent forward somehow. The pain was immense, fortunately my dad decided to let go of his petty grudge for a while and let a cloud come to my rescue. Couldn't say a thing all I could do is let out a horrible scream. The shark came after me again. I couldn't figure out how it got me with such accuracy. I flew all the way to Florida hoping to loose it. I mean how could it see a little dot thousands of feet in the air. It kept following though, and if you want to know how I know I was passing Florida, I saw a couple funerals and some men in wet clothes dancing on the beach. I stopped. I knew that if I went further I'd kill everyone in Cuba and the Bahamas. So, what did I do? The dumbest thing ever, that's what I did. I jumped from the cloud in a nose dive. The prophecy said one of us might die to a great fall, why not me, and if I died it would spare the mortals that were all around us. I had stopped screaming, and for some reason the shark looked confused. That's when I noticed that the shark had no eyes. This was no ordinary demon shark. It was Lamia. Lamia was a Libyan queen who my dad loved. When Hera learned of their affair she took her kids. Lamia went insane with grief, and tore out her own eyes. Zeus then transformed her into a monster allowing her to get revenge by hunting and eating other people's kids. It seemed dad didn't like her eating his kid though because, at the last second I felt strong, and I saw lightning and wind shaping to my body making me a human bullet. The crackle of thunder must have made her aware of me again though because she opened her mouth wide. At that second I new that, one the shark would die, two I would get an express flight through it's digestive system compliments of Zeus, three when I came out the lightning would kill all the little fishes. Fortunately Uncle Poseidon didn't want to cause a seen so he wrapped me in a pocket of air to keep me from killing his fish.

When I woke up my clothes were torn in to many places to have them repaired, and my skin was raw and felt like it was burning. I couldn't move an inch, but my cloud was taking me. So I uttered one command and went to sleep.

"Take…me to…to the Mojave dessert…"

Six hours later

"You're tough for a boy."

"Huh…what…Were am I?"

"The hunters of Artemis's current campsite."

"Em?"

"Emileus! Sorry, I've been taught to not trust boys."

"It's okay, I wouldn't trust me either."

"Very funny, now if you're rested then Miss Artemis wants to see you."

"Well, I don't think I can walk. Or move at all for that matter."

"Oh right, I'll send her in, see ya."

I waited a while and then a girl with long silver hair walked in. She looked to be thirteen.

"Hello there, half brother."

"Artemis, is that you?"

"Yes, brother. I am not surprised by your response. I like to stay this age to be more like my hunters."

"So, why do you want to talk to me?"

"Because, you're family and you're hurt."

"Well, if I remember correctly you wouldn't want to help your brother Apollo."

"We do have our spats. I can see the thoughts of wounded prey, and you were certainly prey for that shark. I can see your intentions, your thoughts, and your desires. I can see what you're like and I'm sure I can trust you, all children of Zeus may they be god or demigod are like us, we want freedom, we all seek it in different ways, I can say that you are trying to seek it in the purist form. You must be dad's favorite, but remember, this world wasn't built for free thinkers like us. All kids of Zeus that seek pure freedom end up the same way. You know what happened to Gandhi."

"He was shot dead."

"Exactly, now let me heal you. I can heal all injuries sustained while battling."

She touched my mangled leg and the tent filled with moonlight. When I could see it again my leg was normal again. It felt great and my raw red skin was back to normal too. Artemis said she had to leave and walked toward a larger tent.

I sat there for a while wondering why my dad would want me to come here. Certainly getting my leg fixed was a reason to come here but, if it had been almost anywhere else I wouldn't have had to go through that. Maybe he wanted me to kill Lamia but, she used to be his lover. I didn't think it was important so I took out my guitar and did a part to a song that somehow always brought my spirits up.

"_And you still can hear me singing to the people who don't listen to the things that I am saying hoping someone's gonna hear. And I guess I'll die explaining how the things that they complain about are things they cold be changing, hoping someone's gonna care. I was born a lonely singer and I'm bound to die the same but, I gotta feed the hunger in my soul. And if I never have a nickel I won't ever die ashamed because I don't believe that no one wants to know."_

It was nighttime. I heard something outside. I went outside and saw a girl who looked like Em except she had longer hair and glasses, she was reading a book by the light of a purple flaming candle.

"What are you reading?"

"Oh, um the Thirst Games."

"Is it good? I'll have to read it."

"Yeah, shouldn't you get some rest, you do have a quest."

"Well yeah, how'd you know?"

"It isn't just Artemis who can read the minds of wounded prey. You see these glasses, they help me see through my dyslexia. I can see anything, except the truth. Humans are so evil; they can hide the truth from me. It's hard to explain, but I know how much evil is in everyone's heart. You're the nicest person I've seen since before my twin sister Em and I joined the hunters. She was always so excepting of everyone, whether they be a different religion or color or even gender. Then when we joined she turned bitter."

"You're related to Em?"

"Yeah, you've met her?"

"Twice. What's your name anyway?"

"Colleen, I'm a daughter of Hecate."

"Who is she?"

"A titan of magic, witchcraft, childbirth, crossroads, ghosts, necromancy, and the moon before Artemis was born."

"Wow, you must be very powerful."

"Well yeah but, of course I'm not as powerful as a child of Lord Zeus. Now I think we should get to bed. Good night."

I couldn't sleep very well that night. At about five I had a nightmare about snakes and woke up to see Em and Colleen going toward Artemis's tent. I went over to see what was going on.

"Well Em, Colleen, you both feel you need to leave?"

"Yes ma'am."

"Well, I'm sorry to hear that. Since you two were such good hunters, I'll let you keep your weapons."

"Thank you ma'am."

I ran toward my tent so they wouldn't know I was listening. A minute later Em got me up.

"Wake up, we're about to leave. And good news, Colleen and I are coming with you."

"Um okay, well thanks. Come on lets get going."

We were gonna leave. The tents were down, and everything was all set, then I asked Artemis…

"So why are you out in the dessert? There's almost nothing to hunt."

"We're hunting…"

""

"…that"

Out of the ground came a giant armored worm with huge teeth. And as it came it swallowed five hunters and I knew I might die this time.


	5. Chapter 5

T.J. Eckard and the Death of a Hero

By-Himaru Kishimoto

Chapter 5: I'm mistaken for a god

Author note: Thanks for reading my story. I do not own the Percy Jackson franchise or the Twilight Zone franchise. Also I forgot to add a paragraph to the last chapter. Just assume Sam has the shield I mentioned, and that Matt has a shark tooth knife that allows him to control some aquatic animals. I also forgot to mention Matt's winged war helmet from chapter two. You're gonna notice that Matt uses water while in the dessert. Matt's watch can create water. I dedicate the second half of this chapter to my native-american brothers and sisters.

Now I don't know if you've ever thought about the differences between a snake and a giant worm but, if a giant armored worm the size of the empire state building with giant teeth pops out of the ground at you then you won't exactly notice the differences immediately. If you haven't caught on yet, I'm deathly scared of snakes. Anyway, I was frozen solid as the worm ate three more hunters. Almost instinctively a cloud scooped me up before it could get me. From the air I could see the carnage and then the worm went for Em and Colleen and I got so mad. I ran toward them, which was weird since I was in the air. Being a son of Zeus has a lot of perks; gravity can't affect you if you don't want it to. I got to them and pulled my sword out. Em had somehow summoned ghost which were attacking the worm. I was going to charge when she said…

"Good luck bird brain."

She kissed me and I felt like for once I wasn't alone. I wasn't the universe's little joke, like I had something to fight for. I went after the worm as fast as lightning. I didn't notice then but, lightning and air was surrounding me again but, this time I controlled it. I was tapping into hidden powers that no one has ever known before. I sliced with my sword and cut off its armor with one strike. Then I went for its head. It should have been sliced in half but, when I turned around it just seemed ticked off. I sort of passed out. I was still fighting but, completely on instinct. It was like I was watching myself fight. A sudden blast of wind hit the worm. I was wondering about it. I didn't remember any worms from Greek mythology but, when the wind hit it all made sense. Earlier the hunters tried to bring it down with arrows, but they were nowhere to be seen after they hit the worm. The wind hit and sand and arrows flew everywhere. When the dust settled I saw the worms true form. It was metallic with red eyes. It was an automaton. A robot most likely made by Hephaestus. I went to kill it but it dove into the sand like it was water and came up with more sand armor. I was starting to feel tired not so much tired as feeling as if my entire body was screaming out for air as if my heart wasn't pumping blood well enough. That is when I learned the implications of the lightning armor. It takes an amazing toll on my heart. That's why I was out of control. My body was trying to win the fight while conserving movement. I was incredibly efficient. My body realized that the worm takes five seconds to realize that its sand armor has been knocked off. So now I was blasting with wind and then using the five seconds to slash at the section between the automatons head and its neck. Suddenly my body realized something. The wires were coated with Olympian Silver. They would be nearly impossible to destroy. When my body realized that this would be a much more long term fight the lightning and air escaped from my body and hit the best like a tornado.

I was outmatched and my heart was about to give out. I was almost ready to execute one finishing attack, I was gonna let it eat me and then shoot out lightning from inside like a bomb. It would blow me to pieces but, at least the hunters would be safe, right? I was about to go for it when I heard Sam, Matt, and Jack behind me.

"So what's up?"

"I'm glad you're here guys, I was about to kill myself to defeat this thing."

"So what is this thing?" Sam said

"It's an automaton with sand armor. When you nock off the sand there is a five second interval before it dives down into the sand for more armor. Its wires are coated in Olympian Silver."

"So, it's impossible to defeat." Matt said

"Not exactly, its wires are Olympian Silver but, its outer shell is some sort of celestial bronze compound. We may be able to destroy it. T.J. can you clear the clouds." Sam said.

I had no idea what he was doing but, I cleared the clouds as he asked. I was extremely tired, I could tell that if we did not win soon I would die but, I carried on. When we saw the sun Sam said a prayer and then an almost burning ball of light formed in his hand. He shot it forward but, not before Matt knocked the sand off with a blast of water. The ball connected with a part of the outer shell and I noticed that the wires that were covered up by sections of its body were not covered in Olympian Silver.

"I knew it" he said

"So, now we just slice the wires, right?"

"Wrong, he is going to be extremely defensive about that opening."

"So, what do we do?"

"Well, an automaton is just a machine; if you could paralyze it long enough with a magnetic field then we might be able to cut the wires."

I felt horrible and this idea was not going to help but, I was going to have to do it. Then I felt a horrible sensation in my chest, and I fell to the ground. I couldn't move then I saw a horrible image of a pale man surrounded by black flames. The flames were swallowing me up, I was sure this was death. Then I felt one more bolt strike me, and where ever I was filled with light, and a shining man in a long dark beard with a lightning bolt in his hand drug me out of the flames. I sat up as soon as I was out. My heart was working overtime. I saw color return to my pale body. My father had brought me back from the brink of death.

"Are you alright?" said Em

"Don't worry about me" I said in a deep raspy voice, the kind you'd expect from a skeleton.

"Well…"

"Well what?"

"Well…are you gonna do something bird brain!"

"Sure, just give me a minute. My legs are still dead."

I got up and somehow I could make a magnetic field. The beast was very still. Jack tore away the sand with dark energy. Then Colleen came out of nowhere and touched a sort of tattoo on her arm and out of nowhere came a bow and arrow. With one perfectly aimed shot an arrow cut through every wire.

"Whoa…" Sam and I said in unison.

An hour later we were talking with Artemis.

"I thank you all, even you three boys. Now, like I said before, Em and Colleen, you are both allowed to go with them if you wish. Now, since you're leaving us, it is rightful that you go at the opposite direction. We're headed toward California, so you must go east."

"Thank you for the training Lady Artemis." The twins said in unison.

"And baby brother, take care of my girls. I know you can do it."

"No problem and thank you for fixing up my heart."

"Just don't use that little ability of yours so much."

"I don't think I can. It's like an emergency thing."

"Goodbye and thank you for your service."

We flew for a while. Sam and I rode clouds, Matt used his winged war helmet, and Em and Colleen were somehow riding on the backs of ghosts which Jack thought looked cool so he went with them. We were above an Indian reservation in South Dakota when we met up with some planes. We decided it was best to land, but not before Em summoned a big ghost and told it to sit on the wing. I absolutely loved that. I couldn't believe someone that young could make a Twilight Zone reference.

The others wanted to go to the reservation, and so did I. The difference was that they decided to go down a half a mile away to not draw attention to themselves. I guess my dad was still really mad at me because I was suddenly hit with a sudden blast of wind. I landed butt first on a rock and I was just outside the reservation. I was counting my lucky stars that gravity doesn't apply to me when I heard…

"Hino? It must be him. He comes down on cloud. He has come to visit our great tribe. Why not, we built all those temples to him, and we sure know how to party! Welcome to the Iroquois reservation sir."

"Um…I'm sorry, you shouldn't have seen that. You need to sleep now. You are not worthy to bring news of I, Hino to your village."

I hit him in the head with a big rock and went inside the reservation. What was I supposed to do? We needed supplies and I couldn't attract attention to myself. We were having a great time. We got some new clothes, food, basically everything we needed for the next week or so. Colleen was buying some books, Matt hung out with Colleen, Sam went to work making some knives out of some celestial bronze he had stored in my dream catcher, and Em and I were talking in what seemed like a café.

"So, what can you two do?"

"You mean our powers? We can summon ghost slaves but, they aren't too good in a fight. We can use magic purple flames. We can manipulate moon light. Also, Hecate is the goddess of childbirth so; I guess we'd have really healthy kids."

"Wow, pretty cool. So, I've read about hunters. How old are you, really?"

"I found a couple of rings a couple years ago that made Colleen and I impervious to time magic, including Artemis's anti-aging."

"So, you really are, what twelve?"

"Yep, and you are?"

"The same."

We were talking for another hour before I saw the crazy guy from the entrance.

"Hey, it's Hino! People, I was outside earlier and this boy came down on cloud. Is there any that dispute that Hino could do this?"

"I'm nothing special. Do you guys have a hospital? This man is obviously crazy."

Then as I walked away he pulled a gun. I didn't see it and unfortunately Em did.

"If he is not a god then he will die when struck with this bullet."

"No!"

Unfortunately for us, Em protected me. She had summoned a ghost to absorb the blow. It wasn't needed though. My eyes glowed and a bolt of lightning came down to destroy the bullet. The reason my eyes glowed was my dad wanted to say something.

"Son, take advantage of this. They're stupid people."

Obviously he had forgotten I was part Indian. It didn't matter though, my vision closed after that.

"My friends, he is obviously Hino in human form. Of course our records are not so good, but the girl is obviously his wife and goddess of the dead in a human form. What is your name great one?"

"I am Emileus, goddess of the dead and spirits."

"You two are a lovely couple my lords. Come, we shall prepare a room for you two."

As we were hoisted atop a huge crowd like rock stars, we were asked a million questions. "Have you any children?", "What're they gods of?". Stuff that you'd think people would ask Brad and Angelina if they were immortal. Which thank god they aren't, I'm getting sick of them being in every magazine I see in the line at the grocery store.

They took us to a large building. It was probably one of the many temples that that guy had been talking about earlier. They didn't go in because, it was holy ground. I felt bad about entering but, we had no choice. Inside was a small church sort of thing and on the second floor was a room with various sorts of things a god might want. A rack full of wine. A banquet table which had been filled with plenty of food by the shaman. And of course the biggest bed I ha ever seen. So of course that night I slepped on the floor.

The next day we were at a huge party in our honor. There were beautiful woman serving exotic dishes. I wonder if they really think we were gods. Well at least they are half right. We were an hour into a question and answer session when I saw them. The beasts were at least seven feet tall. They were some sort of giant boars with tusks as long as a standard sword. They began to creep cautiously forward. Of course I draw my sword from the dream catcher. Then on of them who was short and had sort of elfish features turned. And like it wasn't even an unusual occurrence; he killed three of the five beasts with a crossbow. I was stunned speechless, and then two kids came out with knives, killed the other two boars and danced in the dust. I should've known earlier. This place has for years been a breeding ground for gods. A couple were especially big and strong like Hephaestus kids. Some of the women were stunningly beautiful like Aphrodite. And two stronger ones were arm-wrestling and one of them pulled a knife…exactly like the Ares kids. The gods had taken advantage of these people for a long time. I went to leave but everyone wanted a look at my sword. Finally I had had enough of it.

"People, get off me! First off, I'm claustrophobic. Second, I am not Hino. I am the son of Zeus, he Greek god of the sky. That is why you thought I was Hino. I couldn't bear to tell you that you were wrong, but I just realized that you have been taken advantage of by many gods. How else could the woman be so stunningly beautiful, they're the daughters of Aphrodite."

"So you lied to us?" said a man who was obviously the shaman or something.

"I didn't want to hurt you."

"You must be another monster taking human shape. Kill the monster!"

Now, normally I love making a scene, having everyone's attention on me. Part of being the son of the king of all gods. Although, this was a little much. An army of demigods is nothing to scoff at. Now, I don't think I ever want to be in this situation again. There were maybe fifty of them and then there was me and Em. And who knows were Sam, Matt, Jack, and Colleen are? Even if we had a small advantage as I am a big three demigod and Em is the daughter of a powerful titan but, fifty demigods is a little much. We've been trained well but, I think I can only take maybe five before I get tired. As for Em I think she could use brute strength to get four.  
Sam could probably do as many as me as well as Matt and Jack. As for Colleen, she's a smart one; she'd stay far back in the trees and pick people off with arrows. She could do as many as those arrows permit. It still probably wouldn't be enough. I rushed at them and hit two right off the bat with the hilt of my sword. I tried not to hurt them and I think Em got the picture. She sent out a wave of ghosts, which aren't too strong but enough to make some inexperienced demigods pass out with fright. I had beat about ten of them before I got tired and went to Em so the ghost army could protect us.

Then out of the corner of my eye I saw a big bird half the size of the temple we stayed in. Then I saw a villager going after it with two spears. I ran to the creature and blocked the first spear and it went into my shoulder. The second spear went into the heart of the old looking yet beautiful bird. In anger I blasted the guy away with lightning. As I bled I watched what I now knew was a phoenix burn. I had failed to save him or Em who was now being beat with crude wooden clubs. I nearly passed out when I saw a beautiful baby bird rise from the ashes. He opened his eyes and saw me. I saw sympathy in his new born eyes and even though he was only the size of a cell-phone he pulled the spear from my shoulder and I heard a voice in my head that said…

"Did I help big friend?"

"Yes, yes you did. Thanks little buddy."

"Should we help the lady over there?"

"Yes, come on."

I'd almost forgotten about Em. The little bird hopped on my shoulder and we ran toward Em. I collapsed on my knees next to her. I had also forgotten how over-exerted I was. I didn't dare try lightning armor with my heart still in bad condition. Then a man ran up with a sword to try and cut my head off. I had just said a short prayer when my little buddy opened his mouth and the sword melted. The clubs turned to ashes and the villagers ran off. This was the first time I got a good look at my bird friend. His back was a mixture of ash black and bright gold, his belly was a gleaming red and his head was red too except for the top of his head which shared the colors of his back, with his beak being a grayish color.

"You're a cute little guy. What's your name?"

"Not sure. Will you name me, daddy?"

"Oh, okay, how about Aionios?"

"I like it. Should we help the lady?"

"Oh, yeah."

We went to a sort of drugstore. I fixed up my shoulder and bandaged it. I used medicine on any deep cuts either of us had. Em was fine. She had just passed out from lack of blood like I almost had. Aionios was tired and I put him to bed on the big soft bed Em had stayed in the night before. He was so small. I wondered how long he'd live. The phoenix he was born from was large but that's no indication. They can live a thousand years and they are destined to live as long as their predecessor. I put Em down next to him and they snuggled up next to each other. Then I went out to look for our friends. Knowing Sam, since he's been a Hephaestus camper he's gone out of his way building. So he's probably building a small hut with the new axe function of his pencil. I was walking for about an hour in the woods. It was dark, and I was about to go and check on Em and Aionios, when I saw, not a hut but a log cabin. Never underestimate a grandson of Hephaestus. I went in and saw no one was there, and there were several obvious signs of a struggle. I saw a lot of muddy footprints and a thin trail of blood.

I ran as fast as my weakened body would take me. I made it back to the village about an hour after the shaman and the villagers. They all had nooses around there necks. Sammy had a bandage around his head; Matt, Jack, and Colleen were passed out; Em was trying to reach the tattoo on her arm that became her knife; and they had Aionios suspended over a tub of water

"So you finally show up, Hino."

"Let them go!"

"Or what? What can you do now that you've been worn down by the villagers? I was out of options. I was weak. I could barely stand. I was about to let lightning armor take control and destroy my weary heart when I saw a chariot in the sky. It came down. It was black with skulls everywhere. Inside was a strong man with an American flag bandanna, leather jacket, faded jeans, and sun glasses. Basically what I wear. Except my bandanna is black and behind my sun glasses my eyes weren't on fire. Next to him was a beautiful woman with long hair, and the most beautiful body you could ever see.

"Take care of them, okay Ares?"

"Sure, beautiful?

The villagers started to turn on each other. They were fighting the shaman.

"Why are you the leader all of a sudden?"

"Yeah, I'd make a much better leader then you."

"You? Why you weakling?"

This went on for a couple minutes and they started to kill each other. And while they did Ares seemed to get stronger. And then the beautiful woman walked toward me.

"Uh…umm…thanks."

"You're welcome, handsome. I like you. You remind me of Ares so I'm happy to help. Plus I didn't want to see you and your little girlfriend die. Especially after I saw you two with the little birdie. You are so cute together. I love your relationship. It's like the plot of a really good book, but, if you two ever brake up then call me when you're a bit older."

She kissed me on the cheek and my face turned red and I said something like.

"Um…okay hahaha."

They left and I had my friends cut down on a couple minutes. Fortunately for me Em was to busy with her knife to notice. And if she had noticed and we were dating I imagine she would have used that knife to carve "Property of Em" on my arm or forehead or something.

We took what we could from stores like food and medical supplies, and left the reservation. We made camp near a small town and hoped tomorrows adventure wouldn't be nearly as stressful. Of course I was wrong.


	6. Chapter 6

T.J. Eckard and the Death of a Hero

By-Himaru Kishimoto

Chapter 6: Mountain of lava

Author Note: This chapter is dedicated to my brother Lee. I love this fanfic. I do not own the Percy Jackson franchise or the song "for the good times".

Of course we can't have one peaceful day. We nearly die but, all in all I think this is the best day of my life so far. We were breaking camp, which was easy since we didn't need to put up tents. I had made the clouds go around our camp site and we slept on patches of grass.

As if by some daily routine we immediately find ourselves in hot water. Literally, when we woke up some stupid little river god who resembled a giant rainbow trout with limbs who called himself Budlighteus after the name of the river where teenagers would, well, throw away their empties. He splash us which wasn't to bad except for some debris but what I was really mad about was he soaked my jacket which Sammy had just dried with one of his balls of light. I wasn't even sure about this guy being an actual god. He looked like the result of a god who liked fish a little too much.

"Look here, guppy. I'm not convinced you're anything close to a god so get your ugly face out of here before you get hurt, you deformed naiad."

"Watch what you're saying buddy. I'm most definitely a god. And, you better get away from here."

He obviously hadn't known my parentage. So, I gave him a warning shot, and I accidentally fried his right leg. Of course he swam away, but what I hadn't known is he was working for my new worst nightmare, the titan of space and mother of Hecate, Asteria. So, technically Em and Colleen's grandma. She hated me immediately.

"Son of Zeus, why do you attack my deformed, mentally challenged, naiad friend?"

"He wouldn't let us move. I just wanted to get out of here."

"You blood thirsty barbarian. You're exactly like your father. Leave my precious granddaughters alone."

"Never tell me I'm like my father! And I hate to break it to you but, you're granddaughters are with me by their own will."

"I refuse to believe that!"

Suddenly a black hole appeared below me, and then I remembered that Asteria is the titaness of space and therefore could send me anywhere she wants me to be. My feet started to sink in farther and farther until I was only there from the waist up.

"Choose where you'd like to go to son of Zeus; as long as it's far away I don't care."

"No, T.J. fight back. Don't go." Says Em.

I had gone on vacation once to visit family who were by now dead in Kansas. I knew were I wanted to go and how we would meet back up. I just turned and said…

"Meet me half way in three days in McCook, Kansas. And take care of Aionios. Asteria, take me to see my brother Lee in Amarillo, Texas."

"Nice choice. That puts three states between you and my granddaughters."

The black hole sucked me in the rest of the way. For less than a second I was in space. No not just what you would call space. I was in the center of everything. I could see the edges of the universe. I saw a planet that would take a million life times to get to from earth teeming with the early stages of life. Then I was immediately dropped head first onto the back of a bull. A few hours and a couple of bandages on my head and back and legs later I was in front of my brother's house in Amarillo. In my right hand I held a letter my brother had sent me years ago after he snuck out of the house and moved hear with the money he got from selling his first song. I read the letter inside that I had kept for nine years.

"Dear little bro,

I miss you kid. You really need to come out here someday. I know you always looked up to me but, I just had to go to get away from cramped apartments and the pressure mom's putting on me to go to college. I know you've been eyeing my guitar. The black one with the silver eagle painted on it. It's a little small for me now so, it's yours, even though it is probably big on you. I also put a song in here for you. You're three now, right? This must be hard on you but, just know that no matter what anyone says, I didn't leave because of you. I wish I could have taken you with me. Remember, you always have a happy home with me, should you need one."

I took out the song and started singing to myself as I approached the door.

"_Don't look so sad_

_I know it's over_

_But life goes on_

_And this old world_

_Will keep on turning_

_Let's just be glad_

_We had_

_Some time_

_To spend together"_

I was almost to the front door when I tripped over a news paper laying on the walkway. I picked it up and looked at the date. That paper had been from a month ago. I wondered what happened. I ran toward the door and rang the doorbell until I realized, my big brother was long gone.

I went into town and found an old diner. I was hoping to get some info from one of the locals who seemed like country music fans. The thing is about my brother and me is when we're not hanging out with future criminals, we're listening to every nugget of wisdom the old men in our neighborhood could tell us. I found a couple of old men in the corner playing hold 'em and drinking beer. These guys seemed like his type. I pulled up a chair and struck up a conversation. The one on the left still had hair but he was a little hard of hearing. He was wearing a button down white shirt and faded jeans. The one on the right was bald or at least I thought he would be if he wasn't wearing a baseball cap. He had a plaid shirt under overalls that were as faded as the jeans of his friend.

"Hey fellas, who's winning."

"WHAT?" said the man who I had though was hard of hearing because when I walked in everyone had jumped a little when he said "WHAT?" but not too much so I thought they were regulars.

"He is" said the other man. "You want in on this."

"WHAT?"

"I'M GOING TO PLAY A HAND, SIR!"

"WELL DEAL, WOULD YA! MY ARTHRITUS IS ACTIN' UP!"

I sat down and started dealing.

"So, I also had a question."

"Tell ya what kid. If you win I'll answer your question."

"Okay."

"WHAT?"

"I'M DEALING!"

"By the way my name is Al and we call him W for…"

"WHAT?"

"That's it"

I started shuffling and even though I didn't know how he could help, I prayed to my dad for some form of aid. A second later a strong breeze blew through the open window blowing the cards to the floor, and when I went to pick them up they blew together to form the deck. I dealed the cards. A minute later…

"Pair of tens." Said Al

"WHAT? I GOT THREE PAIR OF SIXES!"

"Four aces."

"What?" said Al and W in unison "How'd you get so lucky?"

"I don't know. About that question"

"Whatever you want. We'll answer"

"WHAT ABOUT A SUGGESTION?"

"THIS BOY HAS A QUESTION! What is it boy?"

"Do you know about a man named Lee Eckard?"

"HEY W, THE BOY'S ASKIN' ABOUT LEE. HAVE YOU SEEN HIM LATELY?"

"HE WENT CAMPING ABOUT A MONTH AGO, TO THAT SECRET SPOT OF HIS NEAR PRAIRIE DOG CREEK."

"There you go kid, but why do you need it."

"I'm his little brother."

"You're the cute little kid from all those pictures Lee showed us? You got tall."

"Thanks"

After talking to them for about an hour, I got a map to his secret camp ground. It was nestled among the giant rocks of the mountain. It was about half way up in the middle of a field. In several places large amounts of white flowers popped up. Not only flowers but, several trees with purple flowers that were a deep red in the center grew out everywhere. I walked up to the cabin and saw no one had been there then I heard something, a whine. I broke through the door and upstairs where the whine came again. Suddenly I found myself in a room with a black and gray kitten. I found a bag of food and gave it some. I looked at its tag, it was definitely Lee's.

"Well little guy, that's enough for two days. If I'm not back by then, you might as well go outside and hunt because I might never come back."

"Mew."

He rubbed up against my leg and I left. I was wondering were my brother could be. For a second I sat down on a tree root and thought out my next move. I always thought of him as a god, immortal and awesome. Where do I go? Then a mushroom started growing out of the ground. It got bigger and bigger until it was the size of a bean-bag chair. Then a cloud of dust swirled around it and when it was gone a satyr appeared. No not a satyr, this being had the face of a goat too. He seemed strong as well, and at the sight of him the flowers perked up even more. Like sons trying to look good for their father. No satyr I've met can do that.

"Hello young one. My name is Pan. What perplexes you?"

"Wait! Are you Pan, the god of the wild? Aren't you supposed to be dead?"

"No, I'm just, in human terms, sick. I may fade away soon though. Now what's the problem?"

"Well, I can't find my brother. He was supposed to be here."

"Well, is that it? I know him, not personally but, my dad has told me about him."

"How does he know about him?"

"Never mind young one, I know were you will find him."

"Where is he?"

"Don't worry; at the top of this mountain is a small opening about fifteen feet from the summit. You will find your brother through there."

"Thanks, but how are you here."

"I am very sick but I can appear in small pockets of nature like this one. I must depart, young one."

Before I could respond he disappeared in another cloud of dust. When the dust settled I found a gift. I hadn't eaten for a day easily, and there before me was a bowl of vegetable soup. I silently prayed a thank you to Pan and then asked him to keep this place beautiful forever.

About half an hour later I ventured up the mountain. I used a cloud as a sort of escalator. I was up no more than fifty feet when out of the corner of my eye I saw a bunch of demon like ghosts coming at me. I dodged and fell twenty feet before a cloud caught me. I finally got a good look at these demonic beings. They were all six feet tall at least with horns and an aura of black energy around them. These were not regular ghosts; these were resurrected just to kill me.

I flew forward; I was now engulfed in lightning armor. Like a cannonball I took out two of the five. I threw myself at the strongest looking one. I could swear that even though they had no faces that they were infuriated by the lightning armor. I thought I saw there emotionless faces of emptiness turn mad. When I tried to punch one he dodged and grabbed my arm. Then the other two got behind me and they were attacking me with balls of dark energy. Everywhere I looked another ball made contact with my skin, lighting up like fireworks that slowly eroded the armor. I blacked out for a second and a dark cloud formed around me like a cocoon and sent a shock wave through my body and theirs, if you can call them bodies. The only difference between me and them is the lightning invigorated me. When I came out all that was left were masses of dark goo bubbling into the ground.

I turned toward the direction they came. Floating there on wings that were seemingly made of celestial bronze and rotting flesh was a monstrous looking man. He flew at me with a blade made of black metal. We rammed up against each other. Luckily, I grabbed my feather that I had recently learned becomes my sword when blown on. I had discovered it by accident yesterday morning when I yawned on it. I blew on it and instantly it grew to the three foot long gleaming silver sword I had come to call "Alexikeravno" meaning lightning rod.

"You're pretty good with blades T.J."

"You're not so bad yourself, but you have a stronger blade. At least it looks stronger. How do you know my name though?"

"You obviously don't recognize me under my armor. I made this out of the bones of a dragon. The wings are made of hollow celestial bronze rods. I can make this thing grow skin for stronger armor and fight."

It looked like it. His head seemed like it was being eaten by the dead dragon head. His limbs were about twice as wide as mine, so I assumed he had made the bones hollow to accommodate his arms and legs. He most likely just slid the rib cage over his torso, except it would have needed some alterations to fit perfectly as good armor needs to. The spine probably held the whole thing together with the wings interlocked in it. His hands were exposed, but under the dragon skin covering them, claws grew out. The same went for his giant feet except I couldn't see his human feet, just dragon claws and skin.

"And if you don't recognize me, TJ; Maybe I should expose my face."

In a matter of seconds, the dragon skin disintegrated and bones dissolved into part of an object that I couldn't make out. When I saw his face I faltered and loosened my grip on my sword. He flung it away and slashed me across the chest. I fell thirty feet to the ground. When I regained consciousness I saw him, just as I expected him. In his black Metallica t-shirt and faded black jeans, intentionally washed with his black clothes so the colors ran into the pants. His dark curls cut close to his head. His sword ad turned into a black claw necklace which now hung from his tightly closed fist. Another item, a ring was on the middle finger of his right hand. I guess that's where the dragon bone armor had grown out of. He looked stronger than I remember and stood up straight instead of slouching from his years of spinal cord problems. He now loomed over me like a mountain about to be caught in an avalanche. If he decided to kill me, I would be unable to fight him off.

"So, you lived to be thirteen, huh?"

"Oh yeah; they said I'd die but, somehow I held on three years longer. Then I had a surgery. I had close calls but I just would not die. They fixed me up well enough for me to live a normal life. Then I met my dad. He replaced my spinal cord with a nice healthy one. Now guess; who is my dad?"

"Why are you doing this?"

"Because, you always looked down to me."

"That isn't true."

"Yes, it is. You always fought with the bullies and nearly killed the ones who made fun of me! Do you know how low that made me feel? To be pitied by the kid who everyone thought of as the scum of the earth!"

"First off, only the mothers thought that. Second, those kids are in juvenile prisons now. They would have killed you. I stood up for you because I didn't want to lose you. You were the only one I could talk to about rebel stuff, man."

I started crying. This was the first time, since I could remember. I grew up without a dad, my mother died shortly after my brother left home when I was three, nobody wanted to keep me after that except my uncle Vinny, and most of all, I was considered the scum of the earth. I never cried once, never. I never dared get attached to anyone or anything. I'd fought since I was aloud out of the house. I'd lost it all. I lived in a poor neighborhood with stepdad after stepdad and a mother who only tolerated me. I began to laugh at the age of four; I'd laughed for everything that a normal kid would cry for. When the mothers had turned off the lights in there houses and closed the curtains when I walked by; I laughed because I didn't care about what they thought of me any more than when my blanket was so small I couldn't cover my feet at night. It was the most miner annoyance possible. I didn't even cry when my David, my best friend and the satyr who was the reason I was alive had died and turned into a tree. But now, when my best friend betrays me because I have protected him like I would myself, that is were my eyes draw the line.

"You know, I never really liked you. You're pathetic dude. What did they used to call you, Stone face? I can't imagine why. Later loser."

With that, he threw a rock at my head and I blacked out. When I woke up, I was in the cabin. I looked up, my vision still blurry. All I could tell was it seemed brownish in color and kept jittering. My vision cleared and I could not believe what I saw. I'd lost a friend but it would seem some merciful god has given me one back.

"So, the nectar and ambrosia worked."

"I guess so. How are you alive, David?"

"Pan helped me."

"Really?"

"Tommy, man, Pan can create dodo birds and mammoths out of thin air. Do you really think turning a tree into its Satyr form was hard for him? I feel stronger than ever! Now that you know about this stuff, you should see what I can do with acorns and sunflower seeds. You demigods really don't treat us with enough respect. We're just as powerful as most of you. We're like sons of Pan, minus the DNA thing."

"So does this mean you're gonna help me?"

"This time, Tommy, but after this I have to get back to camp, k?"

"You know I hate it when you call me that."

"Why did you think I called you that?"

I had two days before I had to meet up with my friends. It was about 7:00 am when we left to go up the mountain. I was pretty well rested and David had some cans of his favorite energy drink, Beast, in his bag. He had on what he had worn in the dessert when he'd died, a hoodie that was sliced down the front by a sword, with a rare red camp half-blood t-shirt underneath. He kept complaining it was too hot in Texas, which it was for him considering he was raised in New York and he was really furry from the waist down which was convenient since Satyrs didn't wear pants often.

We had just gotten to the hole in the mountain that Pan said was there. David didn't really want to go into the mountain, and neither did I considering my dad's worst enemy is Hades, the ruler of the earth and the dead. I pulled myself together and shot a tiny quick lightning bolt at David's butt to get him moving.

It was dark. I lit the way with tiny sparks. The stairs were bumpy and uneven. It was hardest on David until I thought I should get a cloud down here. I learned that the farther down you go, into the earth, the harder it is to get clouds. I went up a while and called down three clouds which is my limit. We went down faster with my emergency clouds following behind. We finally got to the bottom. A giant set of bronze doors barred the way. They were obviously to heavy to push open.

"Maybe it's about time you showed me exactly what you can do with acorns and sunflower seeds."

In a minute, David had placed seeds in the ground and pulled reed pipes out of his bag. He started to play and two oak trees popped up and pushed the doors open. Then we barged through the door with some angry looking sunflowers behind us as back up.

The room was filled with lava, and in the center was an island. At the center of the island, in chains, was my brother, unconscious.


End file.
